


Call the Doctor

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Future Imperfect [2]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 02:37:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14802767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the quotes comment_fic prompt: any, any, "There's no such thing as malpractice in the apocalypse." (Be the Serpent)In the apocalypse, Stephen is still a doctor. Tony is his hands.





	Call the Doctor

“Here’s what I need you to do,” Stephen said.  
  
He and Tony knelt beside the prone, pale, seemingly bloodless man.  
  
“I’m not that kind of doctor,” Tony protested, but he checked the man’s pulse anyway.  
  
“There’s no such thing as malpractice in the apocalypse.” Stephen took a deep breath.  
  
“Can’t you heal him with your magic?” Tony protested.  
  
“If I could I would have done that.” Stephen pushed his sleeves up. “But whatever has happened during this apocalypse, it’s done things that make my magic - inconsistent. So listen to me very carefully. This needs to be done by someone with steady hands.”  
  
“How do you know what needs to be done?” Tony used water from his canteen to rinse his hands.  
  
“I don’t call myself Dr. Strange for fun. Also I can use my magic to scan him, but not heal him.”  
  
Tony took a deep breath. “All right. What do you need me to do?”  
  
“Take off his shirt.”  
  
Tony used his knife to cut the fabric away, because he didn’t want to risk shifting the man and damaging his spine or - something.  
  
“Now clean your blade and make a small incision there, between his ribs.” Stephen pointed.  
  
“Clean my blade with what?” Tony asked.  
  
Stephen handed him his flask of precious, precious moonshine that they’d traded from a band of college kids, one of whom had been a chemist before the Downfall.  
  
Tony splashed it over the blade, and then he reached out. He’d never done this before.  
  
Stephen had his hands stretched out, fingers poised - and trembling.  
  
“Cut very carefully, a straight line, not too far. You’ll feel it when you’re through to his chest cavity.”  
  
“And then what?”  
  
“And then you’ll use your pretentious collapsible straw to reinflate his collapsed lung,” Stephen said.  
  
“Oh. Hey. I’ve seen that on TV.”  
  
“Tony, make the cut.”  
  
“But -”  
  
“He could die.”  
  
Tony held his breath, pressed forward with the blade. Blood and foam sprayed. He recoiled.  
  
“The straw!”  
  
Tony fumbled to hold the incision open, insert the straw. It was harder than it looked on TV. The man’s skin was slippery with blood.  
  
But then the straw slid in and the man inhaled sharply, opened his eyes.  
  
Stephen leaned over him. “Hey, I need you to stay calm. You had a collapsed lung. We managed to get it reinflated, but you have other injuries. What’s your name?”  
  
The man blinked at him.  
  
Stephen’s voice was surprisingly gentle, soothing. So apparently he did have an actual bedside manner. As far as Tony knew, Stephen as a surgeon had been like, well, Tony as a scientist. Abrupt and arrogant but always right.  
  
Till he wasn’t.  
  
His hands were still shaking, but he was patting the man’s shoulder.  
  
The man blinked at him but said nothing.  
  
And then Tony and Stephen watched as black ink appeared on the man’s skin, shifted, swirled, and formed letters.  
  
 _My name is Spencer._  
  
“Okay, Spencer,” Stephen said, still calm, “do you know where you are?”  
  
The letters on his skin shifted, reformed.  
  
 _South of Old Langley. Looking for medical supplies._  
  
“Sounds about right,” Tony said. There was no GPS in the apocalypse.  
  
“I’m Doctor Stephen Strange, and this is Tony Stark. He also has three doctorates, but - he’s not a medical doctor.”  
  
 _Dr. Spencer Reid. PhDs in engineering, mathematics, chemistry._  
  
“Aren’t we a smart bunch,” Tony said, trying to keep his tone cheerful. Spencer was breathing steadily but sounded wheezy, and it couldn’t be good for him to have a straw stuck in him.  
  
Spencer smiled weakly.  
  
 _Have you seen my family?_  
  
“Family?” Tony echoed.

As if on cue, a big white-and-red dog came bounding toward them, started licking Spencer’s face. He gasped, and for a moment Tony thought Spencer was suffocating or choking, but then he realized - Spencer was laughing.  
  
The ink on his belly, all that was visible to Tony and Stephen now that the dog was swarming him, read  _Flashbang Flashbang Flashbang._  
  
Tony caught the dog by the collar. “Hey, Flashbang, ease up.”  
  
The dog stepped back obediently, tail wagging. In addition to his collar, he was wearing a harness with saddlebags attached.  
  
Stephen petted the dog with surprising fondness, breaking into a smile, and Tony realized.  
  
They hadn’t seen any animals - or insects or bugs or otherwise - since The Downfall.  
  
A woman - short, dark-skinned and dark-haired, an Asian cast to her features - came sprinting across the grass. She whistled shrilly, and Flashbang wrenched himself out of Tony’s grasp, ran to her, then followed her as she ran to Spencer.  
  
“Oh, honey, what happened? Flashbang came back without you and -”  
  
A flood of words turned Spencer’s torso almost completely black.  
  
“Ma’am,” Stephen said, “he’s been injured. We need to treat him further. Do you have a shelter nearby? Someplace we can make quasi-sterile.”  
  
“Not nearby,” the woman said, “but we can load Spencer onto the sled and take him back to base. I’ll just need to harness Flashbang up with Roo. Thank you so much for helping him. Were you doctors? Before?”  
  
“He was,” Tony said, nodding at Stephen.  
  
The woman smiled, relieved. “We’ve been hoping to find a doctor for a long time. Come on. The others will be glad to meet you.”  
  
Others, she said.  
  
Tony and Stephen looked at each other. They wouldn’t have to be alone anymore.


End file.
